Unveiling a Technosol-based remediation approach for enhancing plant growth in an iron-rich acidic mine soil from the Rio Tinto Mars analog site.

This paper explores the potential of Technosols made from non-hazardous industrial wastes as a sustainable solution for highly acidic iron-rich soils at the Rio Tinto mining site (Spain), a terrestrial Mars analog. These mine soils exhibit extreme acidity (pHH2O = 2.1-3.0), low nutrient availability (non-acid cation saturation < 20 %), and high levels of Pb (3420 mg kg-1), Cu (504 mg kg-1), Zn (415 mg kg-1), and As (319 mg kg-1), hindering plant growth and ecosystem restoration. To address these challenges, the study systematically analyzed selected waste materials, formulated them into Technosols, and conducted a four-month pot trial to evaluate the growth of Brassica juncea under greenhouse conditions. Technosols were tailored by adding varying weight percentages of waste amendments into the mine Technosol, specifically 10 %, 25 %, and 50 %. The waste amendments comprised a blend of organic waste (water clarification sludge, WCS) and inorganic wastes (white steel slag, WSS; and furnace iron slag, FIS). The formulations included: (T0) exclusively mine Technosol (control); (T1) 60 % WCS + 40 % WSS; (T2) 60 % WCS + 40 % FIS; and (T3) 50 % WCS + 16.66 % WSS + 33.33 % FIS. The analyses covered leachate quality, soil pore water chemistry, and plant response (germination and survival rates, plant height, and leaf number). Results revealed a significant reduction in leachable contaminant concentrations, with Pb (26.16 mg kg-1), Zn (4.94 mg kg-1), and Cu (2.29 mg kg-1) dropping to negligible levels and shifting towards less toxic species. These changes improved soil conditions, promoting seed germination and seedling growth. Among the formulations tested, Technosol T1 showed promise in overcoming mine soil limitations, enhancing plant adaptation, buffering against acidification, and stabilizing contaminants through precipitation and adsorption mechanisms. The paper stresses the importance of tailoring waste amendments to specific soil conditions, and highlights the broader implications of the Technosol approach, such as waste valorization, soil stabilization, and insights for Brassica juncea growth in extreme environments, including Martian soil simulants.

Metal bioaccumulation in spontaneously grown aquatic macrophytes in Fe-rich substrates of a passive treatment plant for acid mine drainage.

Some plants may thrive in polluted environments, accumulating high concentrations of metal/loids in their organs. This study investigates for the first time the bioaccumulation and translocation of metal/loids in Typha domingensis spontaneously grown in extremely Fe-rich substrates (38-44% of Fe2O3) from different components of an acid mine drainage disperse alkaline substrate passive treatment. Most metal/loids were predominantly accumulated in the roots over the aerial parts of the plant, with concentrations of 0.66-9.5% of Fe, 0.02%-0.18% of Al, 55-2589 mg kg-1 of Mg, 51-116 mg kg-1 of Zn, 17-173 mg kg-1 of Cu, and 5.2-50 mg kg-1 of Pb. Bioconcentration factors were mostly below 1 for metal/loids in the studied aneas (e.g. 0.03-0.47 for Cu, 0.10-0.73 for Zn, 0.04-0.28 for As, 0.07-0.55 for Pb, 0.27-055 for Cd, 0.24-0.80 for Ni), which evidences that T. domingensis behaves as an excluder species in these substrates. Translocation factors were below 1 for most elements (e.g. 0.01-0.42 for As, 0.06-0.50 for Pb, 0.24-0.65 for Cd, and 0.10-0.56 for Sb), except for Mn, Ni and in some cases for Tl, Cu and Zn, which indicates limited transfer of metals between plant tissues. Mineralogical and geochemical substrate properties are pointed out as the main factors responsible for the lower bioconcentration and translocation of potentially toxic elements. In addition, the oxidizing conditions existent in the pore water-root system may also limit the mobility of metals from Fe oxides and hydroxysulfates, the main component of the substrate. The formation of a Fe plaque inside the roots may also limit the transfer of metals to the aerial parts. The spontaneous occurrence of T. domingensis in the substrates of the acid mine drainage passive treatments is an environmental indicator of the efficiency of the system and could be used as a complementary polishing step, given the strong tolerance of this plants to high concentrations of metal/loids.

Parliament, the Pandemic, and Constitutional Principle in the United Kingdom: A Study of the Coronavirus Act 2020.

Constitutions come under pressure during emergencies and, as is increasingly clear, during pandemics. Taking the legislative and post-legislative debates in Westminster and the Devolved Legislatures on the Coronavirus Act 2020 (CVA) as its focus, this paper explores the robustness of parliamentary accountability during the pandemic, and finds it lacking. It suggests that this is attributable not to the situation of emergency per se, but to (a) executive decisions that have limited Parliament's capacity to scrutinise; (b) MPs' failure to maximise the opportunities for scrutiny that did exist; and (c) the limited nature of Legislative Consent Motions (LCMs) as a mode of holding the central government to account. While at first glance the CVA appears to confirm the view that in emergencies law empowers the executive and reduces its accountability, rendering legal constraints near-futile, our analysis suggests that this ought to be understood as a product, to a significant extent, of constitutional actors' mindset vis-à-vis accountability.

Categorización y revisión de reevaluaciones en tomografía computada en una unidad de telerradiología de urgencia / Categorization and review of reevaluations in computed tomography in an emergency teleradiology unit

INTRODUCCIÓN La telerradiología se basa en el despliegue de radiólogos a distancia para evaluar estudios de dicha especialidad. Actualmente hay evidencia limitada sobre las tasas de error de evaluaciones en telerradiología. Este estudio corresponde a una revisión de las discrepancias entre los informes preliminares y finales de tomografía computada (TC) de una unidad de urgencia telerradiológica. OBJETIVO Determinar las discrepancias de las reevaluaciones (addendum) en los informes radiológicos de TC en una unidad de telerradiología de urgencia. MATERIALES Y MÉTODOS La recolección de datos se planificó a modo de tabla de cotejo, en la cual se tabularon casos de reevaluaciones de urgencia desde el mes de enero hasta mayo del año 2021, en base a la categorización Agrawal. RESULTADOS De una total de 111.599, 836 informes presentaron addendum, que corresponden al 0,74% del total informado, La categoría Agrawal 0 agrupó la mayor cantidad de casos y los exámenes de TC especialidad de cuerpo se encuentran los segmentos con mayores requerimientos de reevaluación. Discusión: Los valores obtenidos permiten establecer una baja incidencia de reevaluaciones y de la gravedad de estas, apuntando a errores asociados a canales de comunicación, redacción y elaboración de informes con especial énfasis en estudios TC Tórax y Abdomen/Pelvis. CONCLUSIÓN El porcentaje de cumplimiento de un 99,26% de exactitud en los informes permite concluir la alta confiabilidad y la calidad del servicio de telerradiología de la empresa en cuestión durante el periodo evaluado y el empleo de medidas correctivas basadas en organización, gestión e instrumentalización tecnológica

Melioidosis in Cynomolgus Macaques ( Macaca Fascicularis ) Imported to the United States from Cambodia.

Melioidosis, a potentially fatal infectious disease of humans and animals, including nonhuman primates (NHPs), is caused by the high-consequence pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei. This environmental bacterium is found in the soil and water of tropical regions, such as Southeast Asia, where melioidosis is endemic. The global movement of humans and animals can introduce B. pseudomallei into nonendemic regions of the United States, where environmental conditions could allow establishment of the organism. Approximately 60% of NHPs imported into the United States originate in countries considered endemic for melioidosis. To prevent the introduction of infectious agents to the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requires newly imported NHPs to be quarantined for at least 31 d, during which time their health is closely monitored. Most diseases of public health concern that are transmissible from imported NHPs have relatively short incubation periods that fall within the 31-d quarantine period. However, animals infected with B. pseudomallei may appear healthy for months to years before showing signs of illness, during which time they can shed the organism into the environment. Melioidosis presents diagnostic challenges because it causes nonspecific clinical signs, serologic screening can produce unreliable results, and culture isolates are often misidentified on rapid commercial testing systems. Here, we present a case of melioidosis in a cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis) that developed a subcutaneous abscess after importation from Cambodia to the United States. The bacterial isolate from the abscess was initially misidentified on a commercial test. This case emphasizes the possibility of melioidosis in NHPs imported from endemic countries and its associated diagnostic challenges. If melioidosis is suspected, diagnostic samples and culture isolates should be submitted to a laboratory in the CDC Laboratory Response Network for conclusive identification and characterization of the pathogen.

Parliament's One-Year Review of the Coronavirus Act 2020: Another Example of Parliament's Marginalisation in the Covid-19 Pandemic.

In this article, we consider the one-year review (OYR) by Parliament of temporary powers in the Coronavirus Act 2020 (CVA). The OYR stands as a key concession on the part of the UK government to enable scrutiny of Covid-19 law making, after the CVA was rushed through Parliament at the beginning of the pandemic. The principal argument of this article is that despite appearances, this review was another example of Parliament being marginalised during the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, there were four obstacles to meaningful scrutiny in the OYR: inadequate parliamentary time scheduled for the review; the 'all-or-nothing' framing of the review; late and inaccurate government reporting prior to the OYR; and the failure to address key issues regarding the operation of the CVA, including major human rights concerns. In light of such obstruction to scrutiny, it is clear that the review represents a broken promise on the part of the current government to Parliament. The review is also part of a broader pattern of marginalising Parliament during the pandemic. In presenting this analysis, we argue that two changes could be made in the upcoming and penultimate review of the CVA in September 2021, in order to enable Parliament to engage in meaningful scrutiny in this review.

How Stereotypes Affect Pain.

Stereotypes are abundant in everyday life - and whereas their influence on cognitive and motor performance is well documented, a causal role in pain processing is still elusive. Nevertheless, previous studies have implicated gender-related stereotype effects in pain perception as potential mediators partly accounting for sex effects on pain. An influence of stereotypes on pain seems indeed likely as pain measures have proven especially susceptible to expectancy effects such as placebo effects. However, so far empirical approaches to stereotype effects on pain are correlational rather than experimental. In this study, we aimed at documenting gender-related stereotypes on pain perception and processing by actively manipulating the participants' awareness of common stereotypical expectations. We discovered that gender-related stereotypes can significantly modulate pain perception which was mirrored by activity levels in pain-associated brain areas.

Increasing Cervical Cancer Screening Coverage: A Randomised, Community-Based Clinical Trial.

BACKGROUND: Opportunistic cervical cancer screening can lead to suboptimal screening coverage. Coverage could be increased after a personalised invitation to the target population. We present a community randomized intervention study with three strategies aiming to increase screening coverage. METHODS: The CRICERVA study is a community-based clinical trial to improve coverage of population-based screening in the Cerdanyola SAP area in Barcelona.A total of 32,858 women residing in the study area, aged 30 to 70 years were evaluated. A total of 15,965 women were identified as having no registration of a cervical cytology in the last 3.5 years within the Public Health data base system. Eligible women were assigned to one of four community randomized intervention groups (IGs): (1) (IG1 N = 4197) personalised invitation letter, (2) (IG2 N = 3601) personalised invitation letter + informative leaflet, (3) (IG3 N = 6088) personalised invitation letter + informative leaflet + personalised phone call and (4) (Control N = 2079) based on spontaneous demand of cervical cancer screening as officially recommended. To evaluate screening coverage, we used heterogeneity tests to compare impact of the interventions and mixed logistic regression models to assess the age effect. We refer a "rescue" visit as the screening visit resulting from the study invitation. RESULTS: Among the 13,886 women in the IGs, 2,862 were evaluated as having an adequate screening history after the initial contact; 4,263 were lost to follow-up and 5,341 were identified as having insufficient screening and thus being eligible for a rescue visit. All intervention strategies significantly increased participation to screening compared to the control group. Coverage after the intervention reached 84.1% while the control group reached 64.8%. The final impact of our study was an increase of 20% in the three IGs and of 9% in the control group (p<0.001). Within the intervention arms, age was an important determinant of rescue visits showing a statistical interaction with the coverage attained in the IGs. Within the intervention groups, final screening coverage was significantly higher in IG3 (84.4%) (p<0.001). However, the differences were more substantial in the age groups 50-59 and those 60+. The highest impact of the IG3 intervention was observed among women 60+ y.o with 32.0% of them being rescued for screening. The lowest impact of the interventions was in younger women. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms that using individual contact methods and assigning a fixed screening date notably increases participation in screening. The response to the invitation is strongly dependent on age. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01373723.

Framing and personalizing informed consent to prevent negative expectations: An experimental pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Informing patients about medical treatments and their possible side effects is ethically and legally obligatory but may trigger negative expectations and nocebo-related side effects. This pilot study aims to investigate the effect of different informed consent procedures on treatment expectations for adjuvant breast cancer treatments (Study 1: endocrine therapy; Study 2: chemotherapy). METHOD: Using an experimental 2-factorial design, healthy women were informed about endocrine therapy (n = 60) or chemotherapy (n = 64) within a hypothetical scenario. Information was framed with or without treatment benefit information and delivered in a personalized or standardized interaction. Primary outcomes were necessity-concern beliefs about the treatment and side-effect expectations, secondary outcomes were decisional conflicts. RESULTS: In Study 1, side-effect expectations (η²p= .08) and decisional conflicts (η²p = .07) were lower when framed treatment information was given. Providing personalized information resulted in more functional necessity-concern beliefs (η²p = .06) and lower decisional conflicts (η²p = .07). Personalizing and framing of information resulted in more functional necessity-concern beliefs (η²p = .10) and lower decisional conflicts. In Study 2, necessity-concern beliefs were more functional with framing (η²p = .06). Participants in the personalized groups reported lower decisional conflicts (η²p = .06). No differences in side-effect expectations were revealed. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to provide evidence for optimized treatment expectations through altered informed consent strategies. The results emphasize that framing and personalizing informed consent can positively influence treatment expectations and reduce decisional conflicts. However, generalizations are impaired by the study's pilot character. The potential to prevent nocebo responses in clinical practice should be analyzed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Analysis of three strategies to increase screening coverage for cervical cancer in the general population of women aged 60 to 70 years: the CRICERVA study.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is a frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. Despite having easy preventive and therapeutic approaches, it is an important cause of mortality among women. METHODS: The CRICERVA study is a cluster clinical trial which assigned one of three interventions to the target population registered in Cerdanyola, Barcelona. Among the 5,707 resident women aged 60 to 70 years in the study area, women with no record of cervical cytology over the last three years were selected. The study included four arms: three interventions all including a pre-assigned date for screening visit and i) personalized invitation letter; ii) adding to i) an informative leaflet; and, iii) in addition to ii) a personalized appointment reminder phone call, and iv) no specific action taken (control group). Participants were offered a personal interview about social-demographic characteristics and about screening attitudes. Cervical cytology and HPV DNA test (HC2) were offered as screening tests. In the case of screening positive in any of these tests, the women were followed up until a full diagnosis could be obtained. The effect size of each study arm was estimated as the absolute gain in coverage between the original coverage and the final coverage. RESULTS: From the intervention groups (4,775 women), we identified 3,616 who were not appropriately screened, of which 2,560 women answered the trial call and 1,376 were amenable to screening. HPV was tested in 920 women and cervical cytology in all 1,376. Overall, there was an absolute gain in coverage of 28.8% in the intervention groups compared to 6% in the control group. Coverage increased from 51.2% to 76.0% in strategy i); from 47.4% to 79.0% in strategy ii) and from 44.5% to 74.6% in strategy iii). Lack of information about the relevance of screening was the most important factor for not attending the screening program. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms that actively contacting women and including a date for a screening visit, notably increased participation in the screening program. Efforts to improve health education in preventative activities are warranted. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials.gov Identifier NCT01373723. Registered 14 June 2011.

Economic evaluation of three populational screening strategies for cervical cancer in the county of Valles Occidental: CRICERVA clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: A high percentage of cervical cancer cases have not undergone cytological tests within 10 years prior to diagnosis. Different population interventions could improve coverage in the public system, although costs will also increase. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness and the costs of three types of population interventions to increase the number of female participants in the screening programmes for cancer of the cervix carried out by Primary Care in four basic health care areas. METHODS/DESIGN: A cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed from the perspective of public health system including women from 30 to 70 years of age (n = 20,994) with incorrect screening criteria from four basic health care areas in the Valles Occidental, Barcelona, Spain. The patients will be randomly distributed into the control group and the three intervention groups (IG1: invitation letter to participate in the screening; IG2: invitation letter and informative leaflet; IG3: invitation letter, informative leaflet and a phone call reminder) and followed for three years. Clinical effectiveness will be measured by the number of HPV, epithelial lesions and cancer of cervix cases detected. The number of deaths avoided will be secondary measures of effectiveness. The temporal horizon of the analysis will be the life expectancy of the female population in the study. Costs and effectiveness will be discounted at 3%. In addition, univariate and multivariate sensitivity analysis will be carried out. DISCUSSION: IG3 is expected to be more cost-effective intervention than IG1 and IG2, with greater detection of HPV infections, epithelial lesions and cancer than other strategies, albeit at a greater cost. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials.gov Identifier NCT01373723.

Platanus pollen season in Andalusia (southern Spain): trends and modeling.

Platanus is a major cause of pollen allergy in many Spanish cities. The present paper reports an analysis of Platanus pollen season throughout the Andalusia region (southern Spain), which has among the highest pollen counts and the highest incidence of Platanus-related allergies in Europe. The main aim was to analyze pollen season trends from 1992 to 2010 in Andalusia; models were also constructed to forecast the start of the season. Daily pollen counts were recorded using Hirst-type volumetric spore-traps. Pollen season start-dates were very similar at all sites, usually occurring in March. The pollen season was delayed over the study period. The Pollen-season duration and Pollen index generally increased throughout the study period. The starting date for temperature accumulation was around the 10th February, although the threshold temperatures varied by site. The regional model for Andalusia failed to provide sufficiently accurate results compared with sub-regional or local models. For modeling purposes, three sub-regions are recommended: Inland, East Coast and West Coast.

Diseño de un sistema de vigilancia en intoxicaciones con plaguicidas / Design of a system of surveillance in intoxications with pesticides

Según el Sistema Regionalizado de Servicios de Salud y Capacidad Resolutiva de las Unidades de MSP, el Area de Calderón se ubica en la parte nor central de la Provincia de Pichincha está constituida por 7 parroquias, Calderón Guayllabamba, Puellaro, Perucho, Chavezpamba, Atahualpa y San José de Minas pertenecientes al Cantón Quito.En Diciembre de 1999 el Área de Salud de Calderón realizó su Programación Estratégica Local diseñada con la participación de los líderes comunitarios, instituciones no gubernamentales y el personal de salud del Área. Se esta reunión se pudo concluir que entre otros puntos que los problemas sentidos en salud no se reflejan en los perfiles epidemiológicos nacionales o locales, tampoco en los datos del sistema de vigilancia epidemiológica, por el contrario son realidades que desgraciadamente no están documentadas o respaldas en cifras como por ejemplo la violencia civil , embarazos en adolescencia, alcoholismo, contaminación ambiental entre otros. Los problemas igualmente no documentado pero si pecibido por los equipos de salud y la comunidad es la Intoxicación con Plaguicidas. Existe muy poca información sobre el tema por lo que nunca se le ha dado la importancia que realmente tiene, no obstante existe un pedido permanente d elos profesionales del sector rural de que se diseñen y se ejecuten medidas de intervención

Scintigraphic evaluation of bone involvement in beta thalassemia major

En este artículo los autores presentan el caso de un hombre de 19 años de edad portador de beta talasemia mayor que fue referido para cintigrafía ósea con Tc99m metilendifosfonato (Tc99m MDP) por un cuadro de lumbalgia. Este caso muestra muchas de las repercusiones de la beta talasemia mayor en el esqueleto. Además, podemos observar signos indirectos de algunas endocrinopatías asociadas

Cuantificación de tirotropina. Ensayo inmunorradiométrico versus inmunoquimioluminimétrico / Quantificación de tyrotropin. Immunoradiometric versus inmmunochemoheminometric assays

Con el propósito de evaluar métodos opcionales al ensayo inmunorradiométrico -establecido como método de referencia en medicina nuclear- en la cuantificación de analitos cuya concentración en sangre es en nano o picogramos/mL, se comparó la determinación de tirotropina por ensayo inmunoquimioluminimétrico. Por los métodos mencionados se analizaron simultáneamente 36 muestras séricas de pacientes atendidos en consulta externa del Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, seleccionados en forma aleatoria. Los resultados obtenidos mediante la aplicación de parámetros estadísticos demostraron excelente correlación entre ambos métodos. A través del análisis de la concentración sérica de tirotropina por los dos procedimientos, se obtuvo el mismo número de pacientes eutiroideos y de pacientes con valores anormales. De acuerdo con los resultados se puede concluir que ambos métodos poseen sensibilidad y especificidad similares y determinan la misma concentración sérica de tirotropina.

Autoanticuerpos contra antígeno específico en hiperplasia benigna y cáncer de próstata / Autoantibodies againts prostatic specific antigen in benign hyperplasia and prostate cancer

Por medio de ELISA (Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), se llevó a cabo la determinación de autoanticuerpos contra el antígeno específico de próstata en los sueros de dos grupos de pacientes: uno con hiperplasia prostática benigna y otro con cáncer de próstata. Los resultados encontrados confirman la presencia de autoanticuerpos en los sueros de ambos grupos, sin embargo, no se demostró diferencia estadísticamente significativa en la concentración de autoanticuerpos contra el antígeno específico de próstata

Síndrome de resistencia a la insulina: revisión bibliográfica / Syndrome of resistance to the insulin: bibliographical overhaul

Expone que el Síndrome de resistencia a la insulina es una peculiar enfermedad que implica una serie de trastornos originados por la resisitencia a la acción de la insulina provocando un incremento en el riesgo aterogénico está compuesto por: *Insulinoresistencia con hiperinsulinemia *Intolerancia a la glucosa *Hipertrigliceridemia con disminución de HDL *Hipertensión arterial *Obesidad centrípeta...

Estudio comparativo entre quimioluminiscencia y radioinmunoensayo en la determinación de marcadores tumorales / Comparative study between chemiluminescence and radioimmunoassay to evaluate tumor markers

Con el propósito de evaluar métodos alternativos al radioimunoensayo (RIA) en la cuantificación de marcadores tumorales séricos en muestras de suero de pacientes con sospecha o evidencia de padecimientos neoplásicos, se llevó a cabo la determinación simultánea por quimioluminiscencia y RIA de los siguientes antígenos: alfafetoproteína, antígeno carcinoembrionario y antígeno prostático específico. Los estuches de diagnóstico para la determinación de los marcadores tumorales por RIA fueron adquiridos comercialmente. Las emisiones gamma del radiotrazador fueron valoradas en un contador semiautomatizado de un detector. La quimioluminiscencia se llevó a cabo en un equipo automatizado especial para luminiscencia, utilizando los juegos de reactivos proporcionados por el fabricante del equipo. Los resultados obtenidos se analizaron estadísticamente mediante el cálculo de los siguientes parámetros: coeficiente de correlación, regresión lineal, desviación estándar de las diferencias, pendientes y sesgo. Los valores observados por quimioluminiscencia para los tres marcadores tumorales analizados fueron notablemente mayores a los encontrados por el método RIA; obtenido como consecuencia una pobre correlación entre el método luminiscente en evaluación y el radioinmunoensayo

Frida Kahlo y la cirugía / Frida Kahlo and surgery

En el presente artículo se revisa extensamente la relación entre Frida kahlo y la cirugía. El accidente sufrido en su adolescencia y las sucesivas intervenciones quirúrgicas a que se vio sometida a lo largo de su vida indudablemente condicionaron, técnica e iconográficamente, su quehacer pictórico